The present invention relates to wireless communication, and in particular, to a wireless communication system and method that provides an exchange of information between wireless devices.
There currently exists a number of ways of obtaining information about a previously unknown party before actually approaching or contacting them. For example, in the case where both parties are in the same physical location, an ideal method is through a mutual friend who may offer or be willing to provide information to one party about the other. This mutual friend may also act as a conduit, allowing the two parties to communicate without any knowledge of the other's identifying information.
Methods for obtaining information about an unknown party also exist in cases where the parties are not in the same physical location. Examples of these methods have historically included classified and personals advertisements, and dating or matchmaking services. In addition, with the advent of the Internet, two extremely efficient methods have emerged as ways of identifying and communicating with previously unknown parties; these two methods are known as on-line dating and social networking.
On-line dating (a business currently dominated by companies such as match.com) is a networking service where members complete user profiles (typically, an anonymous summary of a person's background, likes, dislikes and other information) that are kept in a central database. Users can then employ various search criteria such as gender, geographic location or specific activities which they are interested in participating in to identify a subset of other users who they may be interested in meeting. The user conducting the search can then browse through this subset of other users to view their pictures and individual profiles in order to decide whether or not to contact them. If they choose to contact another user, a message is sent by the service to that specific person.
FIG. 1 illustrates an existing communication system 100 that may be used in an on-line dating application. System 100 includes a computer system 140, such as a server, including an on-line dating web application 150 and database 160. Computer system 140 is coupled to the Internet 130. Users of the system may access the on-line dating application 150 using desktop computers 110 and 120 that are connected to the Internet 130. Contemporary means of connecting and using such on-line dating applications 160 are typically through wired connections and such use typically occurs in the privacy of a user's home or in some other private non-mobile venue. Desktop computers 110 and 120 include Internet browsers 111 and 121 for accessing web pages from web application 150.
FIG. 2 illustrates the process used in an existing on-line dating system. As shown at 101, profiles of users may be stored in database 160. The profiles may include various forms of information about each user and may further include one or more electronic photos of the user. When a user accesses the website, he/she may enter profile search criteria into web browser 111 or 121 as shown at 102. The search criteria are then sent to web application 150 on server 140 where the search is executed. Users may search for a variety of characteristics about other users based on the profile information stored in the database. In response to the search request, the server returns profiles matching the search criteria.
Similarly, users of social-networking services (such as Friendster and LinkedIn) fill-out profile information that is stored in a central database. However, in the case of social networking services, the profiles are associated with other users in the form of a “hub-and-spoke” system, where each user is linked to one or more third-parties through another user with which they have a pre-existing relationship (i.e., personal or business connections). As in the case of on-line dating services, users can use various search criteria to identify a subset of other users whom they may be interested in meeting. However, in the case of social networking systems, users are generally allowed to contact or view the profiles of only those users with whom they are connected to through this hub-and-spoke system who are separated from them by less than a pre-defined number of connections.
Despite these differences, a key limitation of both on-line dating and social networking services is that both require a user to initiate a search based on specific qualities or characteristics; it is only after they've identified and contacted a person will they actually have the opportunity to meet them in a real world situation. Similarly, in the case where both parties are in the same physical location but do not have any mutual friends who can provide them with information about the other, there is no effective way to identify what this information is. Currently, there is no efficient methodology for combining and extending the efficiencies of online-dating and social networking service to real world situations where a person may quickly obtain information about a specific individual that he or she may encounter but does not yet know anything about.
Given this current limitation, it would clearly be advantageous to develop a system whereby a user could access information about a specific person in their general location in order to decide whether potential compatibilities (either business or personal) may exist between them. In the same way, it would be useful if a system existed whereby a user could identify mutual friends which they may have in common with a person in their general location. At the same time, it would be valuable to have a system whereby a user could initiate communications with this person by sending them a message (which may include the sender's user profile) at some point after reviewing their information. More generally, it would be advantageous to have a system that would allow communication of information corresponding to a person's dynamically changing environment.
Thus, existing systems are not useful in dynamic situations where one or more users want to wirelessly communicate information. Consequently, there is a need for improved communication system and methods.